Tools for wiping and cleaning well pipes



Sept. 9, 1958 E. E. .LADAvls 2,850,754

Toor. FOR wIPING AND `GLEANING .WELL PIPES Filed Aug.' 30,y 195e v /3 NSY N!! INVENTOR.

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United States Patent.

TOOLS FOR- WIPING AND CLEANING WELL PIPES Emmett ElishajJack Davis, Stamford, Tex.. assigner of forty-nine percent to Jim OHara, Dove Creek, Colo.

Application August 30, 1956, Serial No. 607,205

`1 Claim. (Cl.,15..210)

This invention relates 'to a tool for wiping and cleaning well pipe. The tool is more particularly designed for use in rotary oil drilling rigs. In such rigs, the drill pipe must be frequently pulled from the well and disjointed and stacked in the derrick. The pipe as it cornes from the well may be coated with oil, sludge, mud, etc. and the handling of the coated lengths presents -a diflicult, messy and untidy job. The principal object of this invention is to provide a simple, highly efficient, portable tool which can be quickly and easily clamped about a string of drill pipe and which will act to clean the objectionable adhering materials as it is being pulled from the well so that the pipe stands in the derrick can be maintained dry and clean.

While more particularly designed for oil well uses, the invention will be found useful wherever it is desired to clean the exterior surface of pipe, tubing or other cylindrical elongated objects.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the device that it can be applied to the pipe at any desired position along the length thereof and to provide a pipe wiping device which will accommodate various diameters of pipe and which act as a squee-gee to wipe fluid from the pipe exterior.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and eciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views o'f the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a top view Iof the improved pipe wiper in the open position;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof in the position of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, horizontal section, taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged detail section taken on the line 4*-47 Fig. 2.

The improved pipe cleaning tool comprises a handle 10, preferably formed from partially flattened tubing. The handle may have any desired length but for oil well use, it has been found that a length of nineteen inches is satisfactory. A vertically positioned hinge plate 11 is fitted into a medial slot in 'the lower extremity of the handle and is secured therein in any desired manner, such as by means of suitable attachment rivets 12.l The hinge plate 11 projects forwardly from the handle 10 at an obtuse angle to lthe latter and supports at its extremity a vertical hinge pin 13 of a strap hinge 16. The straps or' the hinge 16 are arcuately curved to conform to the curvature of two semi-cylindrical metallic bands 14 and 15 and the straps are fixedly secured to the bands 14 and 15 in any suitable manner such as 'by means of attachment rivets 35.

A hand lever 18 is hingedly mounted on and adjacent the upper extremity of the handle l@ upon a suitable 2,850,754 rammed sept-.9, 195s 2 hinge rivet 19. The lever.18 is preferably formed from sheet metal bent to formv a U-shaped cross-section and provided at its lower extremity with .spaced-apart hinge ears 20 which extend .on oppositesides of the handle' 10 to receive the hinge pin 19. A pair of similar, parallel crank arms 21 is formed on each side fof the lever 18 and extends forwardlyanddownwardly therefrom. The upper extremityof a connecting tube 22 is pivotally mounted between the crank arms 21 uponV a suitable pivot rivet 23.

The lower extremity ofthe connecting tube 22 extends between the forwardextremities .of a pair of tilting levers 24 and pivotally mounted therebetween upon a second pivot rivetf25. The tilting lleversy24are tilta'bly mounted intermediate their extremities and `in ,parallel relation :on each side of the handle 10 upon a third pivot rivet 26 and extend rearwardly therefrom. A joint ball 29 is mounted on the outer face of the rearward extremity of each of the tilting levers 24 and a similar joint ball 30 is mounted on the extremity of each of the straps of the strap hinge 16.

A connection rod 27 extends between the balls 29 and 30 at each side of the tool. The connecting rods 27 terminate in conventional ball socket sleeves 28, similar to those used in automotive control rods. These sleeves are fitted over the balls 29 and 30 and locked in place thereon by means of the usual lock nuts 37 to form conventional ball and socket joints at the extremities of the connection rods 27. A spring 36 is tensioned between the crank arm 21 and the lower portion of the handle 10 so as lto constantly urge the crank arms 21 downwardly.

An arcuate, resilient wiping pad 31 is mounted Ion the inner surface of the band 14 and a similar resilient wiping pad 32 is similarly mounted on the inner surface of the band 15. The pads 31 and 32 are extremely rugged and highly resilient and are preferably formed from heavy sponge rubber. They may be attached to their respective bands in any desired manner. lt is preferred, for replacemen-t purposes, to have threaded studs 33 embedded in the pads which extend through the bands to receive conventional wing nuts 34.

Normally, the bands 14 and 15 with their pads 31 and 32 are in the open position, as illustrated, due to the fact that the spring 36 constantly urges the rear extremities of the tilting lever rearwardly so as to cause the connecting rods to pull the two bands 14 and 15 away from each other. When desired for use, the pads are positioned on each side of a well pipe. The hand lever 18 is then manually gripped toward the handle 10. This causes the crank arm 21 to draw 'the connecting tube 22 upwardly and the connecting tube 22 swings the forward extremities of the two tilting levers upwardly. The rear extremities of the latter swing downwarly and forwardly causing the two connecting rods 27 to push the bands 14 and 15 to the closed position as indicated in broken line in Fig. l. The pads now resiliently and snugly engage the entire circumference of the pipe. The latter is now pulled from the well and through the improved tool. The pads exert a squeegee action on the pipe as it is drawn through the tool so as to prevent the passage of material which has accumulated on the surface of the pipe.

It is desired to call attention 'to the cross-section of the pads as shown in `Fig. 4. The upper, lower and inner surfaces are inclined so as to present a relatively sharp circumferential wiping edge 17 to the pipe as it moves upwardly through the tool. The pads are compressible so that they will operate efliciently upon any pipe size within the limits of the inner and outer diameters of the pads.

. While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is: p

A pipe wiping tool comprising: a substantially vertical handle; two arcuate bands hinged together and hinged to said handle on a vertical axis adjacent the llower-'extremity of said handle; an arcuate resilient semi-cylindrical pad secured to the inner face of each band; a hand lever hingedly mounted on said handle adjacent the upper extremity of the latter; a tension spring tensioned between the lower portion of said handle and said hand lever and acting to constantly urge said hand lever downwardly; a pair of similar straight tilting levers pivotally mounted intermediate their extremities on opposite sides' of said handle member and extending forwardly'and rearwardly of said handle member below said handle lever; a connecting member extending from said handle lever to a position between the forward extremities of said tilting levers; a connecting rod extending from the rear extremity of each of said tilting levers to one of said bands, so that as said handle lever is pulled upwardly, said bands will be swung toward each other; and a ball-and-socket joint between each of the forward extremities of said connecting rods and one of said bands, and a similar balland-socket joint between the rear extremities of said connecting rods and one of said tilting levers.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 919,731 La May Apr. 27, 1909 1,024,991 Hunt Apr. 30, 1912 1,191,702 Januszczak July 18, 1916 1,875,577 Endsley Sept. 6, 1932 2,222,191 Zisman Nov. 19, 1940 

